A UN committee has reaffirmed that protesting peacefully, online or in person, is a fundamental human right. This statement has come in the backdrop of increasing demonstrations over issues like political rights and racial justice.
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Key-Points
It is tasked with monitoring how countries implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 1976, which under Article 21 guarantees the right to peaceful assembly.
To gather to celebrate or to air grievances in public and in private spaces, outdoors, indoors and online is a fundamental human right.
Everyone, including children, foreign nationals, women, migrant workers, asylum seekers and refugees, can exercise the right of peaceful assembly.
Protesters have the right to wear masks or hoods to cover their face and that Governments should not collect personal data to harass or intimidate participants.
Governments could not prohibit protests by making “generalised references to public order or public safety, or an unspecified risk of potential violence”.
Governments cannot block internet networks or close down any website because of their roles in organising or soliciting a peaceful assembly.
The Committee’s interpretation will be important guidance for judges in national and regional courts around the world, as it now forms part of what is known as ‘soft law’.
